Welsh photographer Angus McBean was BOTD in 1904. Born in Newbridge, Monmouthshire, he developed an early interest in theatre, making sets, costumes and props for local theatre productions. He moved to London in his 20s, working at Liberty’s department store while studying photography, and designed costumes and sets for West End theatre shows. His work caught the eye of society photographer Hugh Cecil, who hired him as his assistant. McBean opened his own studio the following year, and was commissioned by Ivor Novello to make masks for and photograph his play The Happy Hypocrite. McBean’s Surrealist-inspired photographs of Novello and Vivien Leigh were a huge success, launching his career as a celebrity photographer. In 1942, he was convicted of homosexual offences and briefly imprisoned, helping stage plays with his fellow inmates. On his release from prison, he resumed his career, working for the Stratford Memorial Theatre (later the Royal Shakespeare Company), the Royal Opera House, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Glyndebourne Opera and the Old Vic Theatre. In the 1960s he transitioned to music photography, creating album covers for The Beatles and Cliff Richard and portraits of Agatha Christie, Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward, Katharine Hepburn, Quentin Crisp, Danny La Rue and Audrey Hepburn. Briefly married in the 1920s, he was discreetly gay for most of his career and highly secretive about his personal life. He died in 1990, the day after his 86th birthday. His work inspired generations of younger photographers, notably Cecil Beaton and David Bailey.